Glace Bay man hurt in jail faces new court dates in murder case

Thomas Barrett leaves a provincial coutroom in Halifax in February 2013. The Cape Breton man faces two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of Laura Jessome and Brett MacKinnon. (THE CHRONICLE HERALD / File)

SYDNEY — Thomas Barrett of Glace Bay has some new court dates on a string of charges, including second-degree murder and attempted murder, as he continues to recover from a serious attack in jail that left him with dozens of stab wounds.

Barrett, 39, was not in court Monday but is out of hospital now and recovering, said his lawyer, Brian Bailey of Dartmouth.

Because of Barrett’s health, new dates were set for Nova Scotia Supreme Court pretrial hearings in Sydney, and preliminary hearing and trial dates were set for several other charges in Sydney provincial court.

Bailey said there were “lots of balls in the air” for his client.

Barrett is now due in provincial court Sept. 15 for a preliminary hearing on two armed robbery charges stemming from incidents in May 2012.

Barrett is also charged with second-degree murder in the killings of two Cape Breton women: Laura Catherine Jessome, 21, whose body found stuffed in a hockey bag along the Mira River in May 2012, and Brett Elizabeth McKinnon, also 21, whose remains were found at an old dump in Glace Bay in November 2008.

A co-accused, Morgan James MacNeil, 23, of Glace Bay is also facing a second-degree murder charge in Jessome’s death.

A preliminary hearing on those charges is expected to proceed from Nov. 13 to Dec. 5 in Supreme Court in Sydney.

Barrett will be back in Supreme Court on Dec. 15 for another preliminary hearing on attempted murder in a June 2012 incident in Glace Bay.

And his trial on two charges of assaulting peace officers and one charge of assault was set for Jan. 27 in Sydney provincial court.

Meanwhile, five men are facing charges of attempted murder, aggravated assault and weapon possession in a June 21 attack on Barrett at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Dartmouth.

Barrett reportedly received 40 stab wounds after he was ambushed by a group of inmates in a cell, and spent several days in intensive care at the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre in Halifax.